More than 130 conversations in the Sophie Toscan Du Plantier case were illegally recorded, it has emerged.

The bugging scandal reached new heights yesterday as it was revealed 133 conversations from 1997 were bugged.

Senior officers drew up the list and handed it to the legal team of journalist Ian Bailey, who says he was wrongly targeted over the film-maker’s murder.

Ian Bailey leaves attends a hearing at the Criminal Courts of Justice in June 2010

Thirty-six of the recordings relate to Marie Farrell, who alleged she was pressurised by gardai to identify a man she saw near the murder scene as Mr Bailey.

Another 18 of the taped conversations are between gardai and another witness, former British soldier Martin Graham.

Mr Graham has alleged he was offered drugs, cash and other items by gardai in a bid to nab Mr Bailey.

Another 42 of the tapes relate to conversations between gardai and journalists.

RTE’s This Week revealed 37 of the recordings related exclusively to phone calls between gardai and senior officers.

Ms Toscan du Plantier was a French film producer who was beaten to death outside her holiday home at Toormore, West Cork, in December 1996.

The recordings were found in Bandon Garda station last autumn during a search by lawyers for Mr Bailey.

His legal action against gardai and Justice Minister Alan Shatter is due for mention in the High Court today.

Meanwhile, it also emerged yesterday gardai spent €50,000 a year maintaining the devices which illegally recorded calls.

The Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy told the Public Accounts Committee the force had an annual bill of between €40,000 and €50,000.

The taxpayers’ watchdog agreed to write to An Garda Siochana and the Irish Prison Service to find out how much it spent and who approved it.

The committee was divided on the plans with Fine Gael TD John Deasy warning the decision was political rather than a question of value for money.

He said: “I think we should be wary about this. Maybe it’s a simplistic way of putting this – if there was a tender for firearms for An Garda Siochana and they were used in, hypothetically, an illegal shooting, would the Public Accounts Committee be getting involved in the tender for those firearms?

"I think we’re bringing it a bit too far.”

The committee was also divided on whether to wait for the terms of reference to be published but chairman John McGuinness claimed there was no need.

He said: “We could ask for the material from the department to look at it and determine what we would like to do with it. I don’t think it’ll cut across any other investigation.”